Bellavene : Two Hearts’ Desire
by arianrhod
Summary: Ever wonder why Severus and Sirius hate each other so badly? This psychological romance is an answer to the question, at least from my point of view. Enjoy this and change your view on Severus Snape forever.


Bellavene : Two Hearts' Desire

_Chapter 1 : New Neighbour_

By belladonna 

Sirius Black was ten years old when the la Furias moved into the neighbourhood. The moving van woke him up on a sunny morning and Sirius peered outside his window to catch a first glimpse of his neighbours. He heard his parents talking about them, how they were from one of the oldest European wizarding family in Italy. The Ministry of Magic had invited the eldest son of Antonio la Furia, Alessandro la Furia, to be an ambassador from Italy and Alessandro, being very dedicated to bringing the wizarding world together, accepted the invitation with open arms. And now, Alessandro la Furia has arrived to his new home in England with his family.

The moving van was just an ordinary small van but Sirius could see that the amount of furniture that kept coming out of it could not have fit in without the help of some magic. Sirius grinned and leaned out of his window even more, searching for the new neighbours' faces. 

A young man in a dark trench coat was standing outside the front gate, supervising the unloading of the van. He had dark curly hair and moustache, twinkling brilliant blue eyes and a determined stance in his posture which shouted out his excellent lineage. He was eyeing the movers sceptically, especially the one loading off the piano. 

"Sirius, dear!," His mother called from downstairs. "Are you awake yet? Come on down for breakfast!"

With reluctance, Sirius pried his eyes off his new neighbour and cheerily changed into some fresh clothes. He came running down the flight of stairs and into the dining room where his father and mother were served pancakes by Mrs. Bennett, a middle-aged witch.

"Mmm." Sniffed Sirius. "Smells great, Mrs. Bennett. I reckon it tastes great too!"

"Oh, silly boy!" Blushed Mrs. Bennett. Sirius made a show of really enjoying the food. Well, not exactly just an act, since it was really good. Sirius was adding on another five pancakes to his plate when his parents reminded him of the new neighbours.

"Yes, they arrived this morning with all their belongings. Off to the old manor opposite the Potters." Sirius's father murmured behind the Daily Prophet. He stopped to sip on his  coffee.

"I wonder, dear, if we should go over and give them a welcome to our neighbourhood?" Mrs. Black smiled at her husband.

"Well, maybe later." Mr. Black answered from behind the papers. "I suppose they must be tired after that journey. We'll go over tonight."

"Brilliant!" Exclaimed the winsome Mrs. Black. "I'll ask Mrs. Bennett to help me prepare a truffle or something for them." And she was off to the kitchen to discuss it with the cheery lady.

Sirius stayed for another round of pancakes and as soon as he gulped down his milk, he was out of the house, running down the pathway and arrived at the Potters' front gate. The Potter mansion could be seen clearly from without. It wasn't exactly a huge mansion but there was something ancient about it making it look rather grand and intimidating. Added to this was the beautiful garden which held as many flowers as there were wizarding plants. 

Opening the iron gate a slight, he slid past and rushed down the pathway towards the front door. The Potters' gardener, Mr. Stubbs, was lugging some gardening utensils to start his work for the day. Sirius waved a greeting to the old man and hurried off to meet his friend. Mr. Stubbs, finding his hands preoccupied, nodded at the boy and smiled a gummy smile. There goes a boy who has as many spirits as ten men does.

"James?" He called inside the house. "James?" 

James Potter came rushing out of the family room, a croissant in his right hand. He shot an enquiring look at his best friend. 

"James, hurry up! I want to show you our new neighbours. They came all the way from Italy and I heard they have a child the same age as us. Well, along with about a dozen more children." Sirius rambled along excitedly as he dragged James outside the front door, pass the old gardener looking perplexed, through the iron front gate and into the road outside the mansion. "Mother and Father want to visit them later this evening but I think a kid our age would welcome a welcoming party sooner, you reckon?"

Having shoved the rest of his croissant into his mouth, James managed a mumbled 'think so' and nodded fervently. He wiped his hands on his pants and ran across the road towards the moving van opposite them. The Italian wasn't there anymore. He was standing inside the manor's compound, near the opened front door. Clustered around him were the movers, getting their pay. A moment later, the movers walked off looking happy and content with the pay. One of them winked at the boys as they mounted the van and drove off. At the end of the road, however, the van gave a loud bang and vanished from sight.

The boys were already used to these strange occurrence and gave only a slight jump at the unsuspected bang. Then, they turned towards the manor again and now saw that the Italian man was accompanied by another man, much older. The older man talked for a while with the younger one and nodded appreciatively at what the younger one had said. Sirius assumed that the older man, in his fifties and having the same colouring as the younger man except for the whites in his beard, moustache and hair, was Alessandro la Furia and the younger man being his eldest son.

The boys, being in their innocent age and not knowing embarrassment, approached the two grown men and smiled boyishly, cheerfully and friendly. "Welcome to England, Mr. La Furia, sir." Sirius added the sir when he saw how sharp the older la Furia's eyes were. His smiled wavered a bit into a nervous grimace. James, however, kept a smiling face and wasn't looking at the older man much. He was smiling at the younger Italian man, who was watching them both with an amused look on his face.

"Thank you, dear sirs. Your welcome is most appreciated." The younger la Furia performed a lovely bow at the boys that Sirius can't help grinning again. "I am Lorenzo la Furia. And this," He bowed slightly at the older man before introducing him. "is my father, Alessandro la Furia."

Sirius stole a glance at the older man. He was surprised to see the man smiling jovially at them, his eyes fondly welcoming their visit. "Ah, Lorenzo my son. I believe we have ourselves two wonderful gentlemen as our neighbour." His eyes twinkled as he glanced at his son.

Sirius and James felt a slight pride at being mistaken as gentlemen. James puffed out his chest and tried to come up with a very respectable look. Sirius just grinned and mocked Lorenzo's bow to the two older men.

Alessandro la Furia laughed heartily at the charming boys in front of him. "Ah, come, come, gentlemen. Come inside and meet the rest of my humble family." Sirius and James trotted along with Alessandro into the hallway. There, they encountered Niccolo la Furia, who was playing with a rocking horse he had rummaged from the boxes. Niccolo shouted a loud greeting in Italian and went off to catch the wind with his rocking horse, his black locks bouncing with his movement.

"My youngest, Niccolo la Furia. He is going to be 4 years old next month. I would appreciate it if my dear sirs would come over to wish him a happy birthday." Sirius and James made their promises, thinking of the birthday cake instead.

Next, they ventured to the family hall, where most of the family were assembled to unpack their belongings from the numerous boxes labelled with Italian names. And here they met Rosa la Furia, Alessandro's wife and the mother of seven. She had beautiful fiery red hair and soft kind eyes. She was sitting on an armchair, smiling at three of her younger children in the excitement of unpacking. There was Lucia, an 8 year old girl with curly red locks and twinkling eyes like Lorenzo's. Little Rinaldo was a shy 5 year old with red locks like Lucia's and soft brown eyes like his mother's. Marco was older than Sirius and James by a couple of years and he looked at them with the patronizing stare an older man would give. He shook their hands and offered them a look around the manor. Lorenzo chided that Marco has his mind set to be the man of the house soon. Marco flushed and smiled more openly after that.

A walk to the kitchen gave them an introduction to Renata la Furia, the eldest daughter of the family who was 15 years old. She was younger than Lorenzo by 3 years. Renata had dark hair like Lorenzo's and twinkling eyes like her brother's too. She offered them some of the biscuits she was making and gave the boys some refreshments.

"I can't seem to find my other daughter. She's your age, dear sirs. I wonder where she is." Alessandro had decided on calling the boys 'dear sirs', and that he would forever later. "I wonder if –"

The phone rang in the hallway. "I'm sorry, dear sirs, but I have to take the call. Will you please excuse me? Lorenzo, please entertain our gentlemen for a while." And off he went to pick up the phone. It was the Ministry of Magic, asking about his travel, and giving him a welcome.

Lorenzo turned to the boys. "I believe lunchtime is nearing. Would you like to stay for lunch with us?" His voice friendly and welcoming. Remembering their manners, James and Sirius excused themselves from the invitation and asked for leave to go home. Lorenzo and his brothers and sisters said goodbye to them and wished them to come back soon. Of course, the boys gave their promise to do so.

They were running down the driveway when Sirius stopped and grabbed James to a halt. "James, did you see that?"

"What?"

"That!" Sirius pointed into a clump of bushes standing a bit higher then them about ten yards away from them. "Did you see those sparks coming out of the bushes? I wonder what that is."

Sirius stepped forward to investigate the curious sparks when suddenly, a loud rumbling sound came from beside him. He turned an accusing look on James who sheepishly rubbed his tummy. "Sorry, Sirius. I only had a croissant for breakfast and it IS lunchtime and…"

"Oh alright. You go home then." Sirius waved James goodbye. "I'm going to stay and find out what that was."

"Alright. You be sure to tell me about it!" James managed to say before he dashed off to his mansion for some food.

Sirius turned his dark eyes to the bush and stared at it hard. The sparks are still coming out of it. They were blue, red and yellow. A faint smell of something burning came to his nose. _What if it's a dragon?_ Sirius immediately rejected that idea since it was not logical for a dragon to be hiding in bushes when a whole family of human were quite nearby. He crept nearer and heard a faint whispering coming from the bush. It sounded like a child's voice. He crept even nearer. Now, he stood with his face almost touching the leaves on the bush. There were bubbling sounds and definitely, a child's voice whispering. Sirius stayed and listened hard. 

Suddenly, the voice stopped. Sirius stayed put, fearing being caught eavesdropping. Suddenly, his feet were grabbed and pulled from under. He fell without getting a chance to scream, hitting his head hard on the ground. Dazed, he didn't struggle as he was dragged into the depths of the bushes. Surprised, he found himself in a small opening in the bushes, surrounded by twigs and leaves. Next to him was a cauldron which was filled with an acid green substance, bubbling and emitting sparks of blue, red and yellow. He sat up to look around and found himself looking at a girl his age, staring back at him. She had shocking red hair which she wore in a single plait down to her waist but some of the red locks escaped from the rope and hung down her face. Her eyes were green and as sharp as knives. Right then, it flashed emerald angry looks at Sirius. Only her eyes showed anger. Her face was solemn, blank, unreadable.

"Who are you?" She spoke with a hint of accent and held out a hand to help Sirius up. Sirius accepted the hand and pulled himself up. He looked at the girl guiltily and mumbled his name. The girl looked at him blankly. "And I am supposed to recognize you by your name, Sirius?"

Sirius realised he was being insulted. He shot a dark look at the girl. But again, sharp eyes surprised him. She was looking at him, intrigued and obviously interested in his reasons for stumbling into her secret place. Sirius gaped at her unexpected change until she commented again. "Well, why are you here? I'm sorry I grabbed you, by the way. I thought you were my meddling brother, Marco." She turned to resume stirring her cauldron and looked up at Sirius, waiting for his explanation.

"Well, me and James – my best friend – came over to give your family a warm welcome. I've met your parents and all. They're a fun lot." Sirius beamed. "What's your name?"

"Bellavene." She answered simply and smiled. "You can call me Bella."

"Oh." Sirius stood there not knowing what else to say. He looked over at the cauldron and asked, "What is that you're cooking?"

Bella shot an annoyed look. "I'm not COOKING." Her eyes softened when she saw Sirius looking alarmed. "I'm brewing."

"Well, ok. What is that you're brewing, then?"

Bella beckoned Sirius to come nearer so that she could whisper to him. "It's a Shrinking Potion. I found this recipe in my brother, Lorenzo's book. I'm not supposed to be brewing anything so you'd better hush up, alright?" She gave a warning look at Sirius. Sirius nodded excitedly. He was surprised that girls could be this exciting.

"So you sneak out to brew often?"

Bella smiled her quite smile again. "Yes. I love brewing potions. There are many possibilities! You could be brewing something dangerous, healing or even useless! I once brewed a recipe I saw scrawled in my sister, Renata's notebook and tested it on a stray cat. It turned out to be a Love Potion! That cat followed me around for a week before the effect ran out."

Bella related many other exciting stories of her exploits and Sirius became more and more interested with this mysteriously brave and wonderful girl. Soon it was time for him to go home for lunch. Bella promised that she will call him when the potion is done. 

The day went by and night came and still no Italian girl called out Sirius's name. He was beginning to anticipate her name as much as he would anticipate a chocolate bar. That night, his parents dressed him up to go and visit the la Furias. Dressed smartly, he looked like a gentleman almost and Alessandro remarked on that and explained his and James exploit around the Manor to his parents who apologized fervently. But Alessandro laughed it off and invited them in for dinner.

Dinner was amusing, with the nine la Furias and three Blacks picnicking on the lawn since the tables and furniture were still jumbled up. Sirius was talking to Marco when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see a pair of green eyes looking at him urgently. She didn't have to say what was so important. Sirius knew. The Shrinking Potion is ready. He excused himself from Marco, who looked at Bella suspiciously, and ran off to the other side of the manor. Bella had the cauldron moved there along with a rat she caught nearby.

They were crouched on the ground, Sirius holding the rat and Bella getting ready to pour a beaker of the potion on the rat, when a shout from behind them startled them. Sirius let loose the rat in confusion and it stormed away, relieved. Bella, quite startled, whirled around and managed to splash the potion on Sirius. Sirius felt his skin tighten and saw the world growing bigger. The astonished green eyes in front of him grew into a pair of large green orbs and he found himself tickled by long grasses which came up to his knees.

A scream came from his right and he saw Marco, who was responsible for startling them, ran off to report to his father about the unfortunate incident. He heard a whimper from his left and turned to see Bella on her knees and peering at Sirius with an apologetic look. "Oh I'm so sorry, Sirius, so sorry! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."

"It's ok, Bella. This is actually great! Your potion worked! You should be proud of yourself."

"But I –" A large teardrop appeared on her cheeks and she wiped it away. "But you're not supposed to be –"

"Bella, m'amore!" Rosa appeared and hugged her daughter tightly but Bella tried to struggle away and tried to get to Sirius, who was picked up by Alessandro. Alessandro looked at the shrunken boy and then at his softly crying daughter. "Explain." And they did – with Marco interjecting – and at last, Alessandro pulled out his wand and returned Sirius to his normal size. Bella rushed forward and clasped Sirius's hands and thanked the God for Sirius's safety. Sirius was alarmed at the girl's caring attention and he blushed and looked down.

"I'm sorry, Alessandro, for the trouble caused. I really don't know what got into my Sirius." Sirius's father apologized.

"Ah no." Alessandro waved it off. "You know how children can be. Let them be who they are. After all, weren't we like them those years back then? Eh?" He laughed off other apologizes and drew everyone else back to the picnic. Marco stayed behind to give Bella a baleful and disapproving look and walked off. 

Bella stopped sniffling already and was looking rather embarrassed and sad. Sirius couldn't help but feel a burning sensation in his tummy whenever he thought of how she reacted to his misfortune. "Bella?" He called out. The pair of green orbs looked at him apologetically.

"I'm really sorry, Sirius." Bella mumbled. "I suppose you're not going to be my friend anymore. They always end up so." She added dejectedly. Sirius, feeling very kind and caring, went over to the saddened girl and threw and arm around her shoulders.

"Rubbish! Why should I stop being friends with you?" He began. "We'll be friends forever. We'll stay friends at school. We'll stay friends after school. We'll stay friends when we grow up. We'll stay friends when we both get married. Why, who knows? We might be married to each other!" 

Bella laughed. "That'll never happen!" She went off laughing merrily as if Sirius have made the joke of the century. Sirius, who intended what he said to be a joke, found a small voice asking him a nagging question. _Why not?_

END

Author's note : Sirius Black and James Potter are owned by J.K. Rowling. Other characters are mine. _I hope this has been a satisfying chapter. I must warn you all that this won't be a humorous fiction._


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